To say that the TV Licence should be abolished?

[Appalonia]

When I look at what I watch on TV these days on the BBC, it's really only Strictly, repeats of TOTP and Glastonbury . There's nothing else that interests me. I listen to Trevor Nelson on R2, but that's it. I watch Netflix, Amazon much more and some shows on ITV, C4 or Sky Arts. And a lot of interviews on YouTube and podcasts. I also object to how the BBC posits itself as the voice of truth and neutrality, but it really isn't these days, on so many issues.

Why are we forced to pay for a service that has had its day and is no longer fit for service?

I’ve not had a TV licence for years and just fill in a form every two years to say I don’t need one. It’s an outdated system and, apart from the odd decent series, generally a pile of crap.

We cancelled our licence about four months ago as we realised we never watched anything on BBC anymore.
Have to admit we haven't missed it at all, there are plenty of other channels to watch, we even avoid the news on catch up now and our mental health is a lot better for it.

If you are thinking about cancelling your licence, check out The Blackbelt Lawyer and Chilli Jon Carne for advice about what you can, and cannot watch without a licence.

I love the BBC and listen to lots of radio, podcasts, watch iplayer.

But the licence fee model doesn't make sense anymore. It's an idea that belongs in the 1920s. And it's a regressive tax, with strong penalties for non payment.

I don’t watch any BBC programmes at all, including IPlayer. But I do watch live tv, so we keep the licence. I begrudge it greatly though! I hate the thought that I am supporting a long line of pale male BBC “talent” who think sexual abuse and harassment are okay (Jimmy Saville, Huw Edwards, Giovanni SomethingOrOther, Gregg Wallace…)

Yabu

No one is "making you" pay it. If you watch no broadcast TV. If you just stick to fully on-demand services like netflix, amazon, Disney etc you do not have to have a licence. A licence is only required if you watch things on broadcast channels.

So you like strictly, among a few other things, so you just have to decide if you want to have access to those things. If you don't think they are worth £14.50 per month to you then don't watch them and don't pay.

I never watch Strictly or TOTP or Glastonbury but I think £14.50 per month is reasonable to pay for the equally small number of things I enjoy - Dr Who, University Challenge and occasional crime dramas that do something interesting with the genre. But I don't bother with 95% of their output including soaps and reality tv - that's normal, they do a little bit towards catering to every taste so everyone gets offered a bit that they like and a whole lot they don't, and are totally free to say no thank you.

YABVVVVU if you think the bits you like would carry on if people stopped paying.

Nothing at all.

Unless they send a goon around, and you entertain them instead of simply closing the door.

Stopped paying years ago and don't miss the BBC at all. The odd drama I might want to see will be flogged off to Netflix etc at some point then I can choose to watch it there.

Yes we either just don't have them or they're not logged in. We don't watch any terrestrial TV and everything the kids want to watch is on Netflix/Disney+.

It surely can’t be long before they have to scrap it, because now you can have a tv and just watch non live tv, they can no longer make people have a license for having a tv if they don’t watch live tv. So all the threatening bullshit they do to make you get a licence is null and void. Without the threats who would bother to get a licence. I lived in the states when telling people there about the uk tv licence jaws would drop in disbelief. A licence for a tv is ridiculous. It’s just a tax a government tax. BBC make enough money selling shows around the world.

I don't like how they've clearly started charging pensioners to make up for younger people cancelling their licences.

I only used iplayer for Detectorists, Pride and Prejudice and Ludwig. I'm an autistic person who repeat watches just a few things so I'm just going to buy them on Prime.

And charging pensioners to watch tv is abhorrent.

Not quite.

The courts can fine you for watching TV without a licence.

If you then default on or refuse to meet the fine payments, that is a further offence, and you can be sentenced to prison for that.

IIRC nobody has been sent to prison for a Licence-related offence in the UK since 2016, and there were a mere two imprisonments in the period before then. It's a common myth that women's prisons are full of women who are there for no other reason than they dodged the TV Licence fee. Oft repeated, but it simply is not true.

I'm sick to death of adverts every 15 minutes or so and it irritates me that I have to pay extra to stop having them shoved down my throat.

The BBC isn't perfect but I love the lack of ads and being able access it overseas.

As I understand it the BBC were forced (with no advance notice) to make the licence fee for over 75s

I think it was a requirement of the royal charter (which is a direction from the Queen for the bbc to operate and a requirement of that charter is for them to collect the licence fee). The current charter runs out in. 2017 so it will be interesting to see how that changes. As per pp it would need to be funded somehow.

Legally, though, if you watch any live tv at all, you’re supposed to have a licence, right? I don’t watch any BBC, ever, but I watch Sky News live, and DH watched some live sports, so I understood we had to have a licence.

In 2022, there were 44,245 prosecutions and 40,654 convictions for TV license evasion. Of the convicted, 74% were women
It’s still an absolute joke that BBC can prosecute anyone for not having a tv licence.
Whilst imprisonment is doubtful, there are still people out there with a conviction for non payment of a poxy tv licence.

Yes, but "conviction" does not mean "imprisonment".

The maximum fine is £1000, but more normally the fine is a fraction of that. In Scotland it's usually in the region of £40 - £75

I usually keep the Government's own HMP data handy when this topic comes up, but I seem to have deleted the link. I'll see if I can find it again, but in the meantime here is a link reiterating that the last imprisonments were in 2019, two people, both of whom were male IIRC.

fullfact.org/news/liz-truss-tv-licence-prison/

For the avoidance of doubt, I agree entirely it's a travesty that such a thing as a TV licence still exists. The business model is utterly absurd, not just the payment aspect, but the fact the law permits the BBC in the guise of Capita to harass perfectly law-abiding non-customers simply because they don't want or need the BBC's product.

Oh me too, love that radio programme. I actually got on the show in January as I guessed 5 Seconds to Name and they rang me up! Trevor was so lovely😁😍

Make it subscription only and put the content behind a paywall. Imagine if any other broadcaster demanded that you opt out or send you invoices for watching their content.

It's a bloody disgrace.

If there's a petition I'm happy to sign.

It's too expensive for what it is. I don't mind if they started doing ads instead.

The compulsory nature is outdated and needs looking at but I watch a lot of BBC output, from the excellent BBC Four music programming to the 6 nations to Have I got news for you to Only Connect to Graham Norton to Wimbledon - there's loads of good stuff, and I listen to hours of national and local BBC radio every week. And no adverts!

The election coverage and war reporting this year has been great and I'm very much looking forward to the new Gavin and Stacey and Outnumbered this Xmas.

I don't have netflix or any of the others as I'm not into American dramas, dating programmes and Marvel films😉

If it was a mere "invoice", it wouldn't raise my hackles to quite the same degree. It's the fact it comes with threats of visits, fines, investigations, and "convictions", that angers me.

In Scotland it is actually illegal for private individuals and companies to threaten fines, because they have no authority to do so, but for some reason a blind eye is turned to the behaviour and practices of Capita/BBC, presumably because it's the local Sheriff who actually hands out the fine.

Getting a conviction is akin to imprisonment. It’ll stay on your record. How is that fair?
How is not wanting to pay the BBC the same as robbing a granny of her pension or being caught in possession of drugs?
It’s time we had a choice to subscribe.

I canned it years ago now, over Brexit actually. I wasn't a Brexit voter but I just got fed up of the self satisfied lectures, and once I'd noticed it I couldn't un-notice it. It's just a load of posh twats telling you off all the time!

For documentaries and so on, everything is jammed into tiny 1 minute segments gaffer taped together with sound effects, so there's nothing interesting or in-depth on it. Well, I dunno what's on it any more, obviously, but back then.

I mainly listen to podcasts nowadays, and all people that probably once were on R4 anyway. I enjoy things like The Rest Is History and so on.

They cut alot of local radio.
BBC local radio is only local 6am until 2pm in the week now.